page_title: Gordon (slave)
section_title: Arrival at Union camp
hierarchical_section_title: Gordon (slave) / Arrival at Union camp
caption_attribution_description: Civil War engraving of Gordon (slave) in uniform.
context_page_description: Gordon, or "Whipped Peter", was an enslaved African American who escaped from a Louisiana plantation in March 1863, gaining freedom when he reached the Union camp near Baton Rouge. He became known as the subject of photographs documenting the extensive scarring of his back from whippings received in slavery. Abolitionists distributed these carte de visite photographs of Gordon throughout the United States and internationally to show the abuses of slavery.
  In July 1863 these images appeared in an article about Gordon published in Harper's Weekly, the most widely read journal during the Civil War. The pictures of Gordon's scourged back provided Northerners with visual evidence of brutal treatment of enslaved people and inspired many free blacks to enlist in the Union Army. Gordon joined the United States Colored Troops soon after their founding, and served as a soldier in the war.
context_section_description: Pherson and his partner Mr. Oliver, who were in camp at the time, produced carte de visite photos of Gordon showing his back.
  During the examination, Gordon is quoted as saying,
  Ten days from to-day I left the plantation. Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping. My master come after I was whipped; he discharged the overseer. My master was not present. I don't remember the whipping.  I was two months in bed sore from the whipping and my sense began to come—I was sort of crazy.  I tried to shoot everybody.  They said so, I did not know.  I did not know that I had attempted to shoot everyone; they told me so.  I burned up all my clothes; but I don't remember that.  I never was this way (crazy) before.  I don't know what make me come that way (crazy).  My master come after I was whipped; saw me in bed; he discharged the overseer.  They told me I attempted to shoot my wife the first one; I did not shoot any one; I did not harm any one.  My master's Capt. JOHN LYON, cotton planter, on Atchafalya, near Washington, Louisiana. Whipped two months before Christmas.
caption: Self-emancipated, turned soldier, Gordon, also known as "Whipped Peter", in the United States Colored Troops, wearing his Union Army uniform
exif: {}